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Jimmy Barnes and Dallas Crane.
Aussie music icon Jimmy Barnes (born James Dixon Swan) has been around for a very long time since replacing his older brother John (aka Swanee) as vocalist for Cold Chisel (then known as Orange) back in 1973. For decades now Barnesy has epitomised all that is unique and tough about Australian blue-collar rock. After enjoying a phenomenal career which has spawned many classic singles and albums, 'Chisel called it a day in 1985 and left Barnes to immediately get out there as a solo performer. Despite his trademarked screeching singing style, Barnes managed to keep his profile buoyant, with occasional help from a few illustrious friends along the way.
Now, after dusting off some old recordings he had lying around
the place and laying down some fresh tracks with some new friends,
Barnes has collected two CDs worth of material that he proudly
calls 'Double Happiness'. It features duets with no less than
Tina Turner (Simply The Best), Joe Cocker (Guilty),
INXS (Good Times), John Farnham (When Something Is
Wrong) and nonagenarian bushman, Smoky Dawson (Cold,
Cold Heart).
Keeping it in the family, there's also a few sing-alongs with
Swanee and brother-in-law Mark Lizzotte (better known as Diesel),
as well as three tracks with Jim's own offspring: Mahalia, Ellie-May
and Jackie (formally known as The Tin Lids). Others to share
a spit-drenched microphone with Barnes include Tina Harrod (Piece
Of My Heart), Troy Cassar-Daley (Bird On A Wire)
and The Living End with Resurrection Shuffle. However,
the most attention-grabbing track is Sit On My Knee,
where Barnes teams up with the lads from Dallas Crane.
Barnes and DC frontman Dave Larkin are together again, only this time on a couch to discuss how this unlikely collaboration came to be.
"I basically heard them on the radio and had seen them on the TV," Barnes says of his first exposure to the 'Crane, "and I really liked them a lot. I thought they had a lot of character, you know? Then I was in the studio with The Living End and they'd been touring with Dallas Crane and they were raving about them and saying really good things about them also so I decided I'd better investigate them further.
"There was a good vibe going between us," he adds, referring to their first meeting, "and because I liked their style and their attitude it was just a matter of trying to find the right song.
" Initially we tossed around the idea of maybe doing an early
AC/DC number, but that was only in the first ten minutes or
so. Then at some point Dave suggested Sit On My Knee,
which was one of their songs they'd recorded for their album
'24/7'. I really liked the tune and the structure of the song;
I like the weaving, intertwining guitar parts and the melodies,
and the way the rhythm section pumps. So we agreed on that song
pretty quickly, there wasn't a lot of discussion except for
'this sounds good, let's go with it!'" he laughs.
"The night before we went into the studio I went and sang with the guys at The Annandale Hotel in Sydney, and because they'd played the song live for six or seven years and had recorded it before, it was basically something they already knew and could already tear apart, and then there was me sort of just adding to what they already had."
"We were a bit surprised at first," admits Larkin when asked about Barnesy's initial approach.
"We thought, 'Oh, really? That's a strange idea, why would he want to do that?' Then we just thought 'fuck it'; it would just be lot of fun to record and to see how it goes. We didn't even know that it was going to be on an album, we all thought that it was something that he just wanted to do for a bit of fun. But we learnt a fair bit just hanging out and recording with him, so just for the experience we had a great time."
"Do you know what?" Barnes adds with a laugh, "I hope that Triple J are open-minded enough to play it because I know that they've always been supportive of Dallas Crane. I just hope now that I haven't put the kiss of death on them so that they never get played again."
Steve Jones
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Sit On My Knee is at radio
now, and 'Double Happiness' lands in June. |
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